CASHe
Serving the Underserved Millennials with Credit Opportunities They Deserve
India, a country with the largest number of expected young population by 2020 and an average age of 26 years old which has been credit deprived despite their increasing employment rate. From month-end days to urgent medical situations, these millennials tend to have a constant demand for money which their financial statements do not meet, especially with the limited salaries they receive.
While this brings a crucial need for loans, conventional banks are not a solution provider for these urban candidates due to their pre-requisite requirement of good CIBIL score. CASHe has been the game-changer here by revolutionizing the credit lending industry with its AI-powered digital lending platform.
Being the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Director of CASHe, Ketan Patel has revolutionized the industry with "CASHe" through accelerated innovation and excellent operational power delivering the "best-in-class" services.
The seasoned leader has a key portfolio ranging from private banking, composite business solutions, and e-banking solutions leading to an exceptional experience in the industry along with an in-depth understanding of setting up key business units across international markets.
The visionary with his experience and skills has been a driving force in making CASHe India's largest digital lending company for the salaried millennials.
"What we are trying to do is to address the segment which is completely ignored by the banks and NBFC (Non-Banking Financial Company) at this point and time. CASHe came into existence to cater to the existing large pool of un-served and underserved in the salaried segment." said Ketan shared his views.
CASHe, the online platform follows an uncomplicated process. After downloading the application, one has to fill in the basic details along with the company where he is working and salary that he is earning. The app then asks for the KYC document, PAN card, Salary Slip and Bank Statement basis which the loan decision making continues.
The AI-based decision-making engine, the Social Loan Quotient (SLQ) works in the backend on the details provided by the uses. The platform has a frictionless and seamless process where Artificial intelligence decides whether to give a loan or not which makes the person come back and apply for a loan again.
The SLQ has two AI with different algorithms working on them, "Social Behaviour Factor" and "Goodness Measure". The Social Behaviour Factor (SBF) takes into consideration a person's social behavior to understand their credit-risk.
AI used in SBF is focused on data points including mobile, social media applications, education, monthly salary, and experience. The Goodness Measure maps the financial information that the user has provided and treats him as a new customer accessing his behavior changes.
The combination of both these technologies helps judge the user's ability to be granted with the loan. The revolutionary SLQ Score is not only dynamic but also focuses on the youth's current position in society rather than their credit history.
Operations Launch: April, 2016
Total App Downloads: 4 million
Total loan Disbursed: Rs 1,200 crores
Total Active Customer: 150,000
Availability: PAN India
Loan product range: 2,3,6,9 months & 1 year
Maximum Loan Size: Up to Rs 3,00,000
Loan Disbursement Time: 10 minutes
Typical Customer Age Group: 22 – 38 years
User Interface: Completely digitized
Average Loan processed in a Day: 1200
"We lend using the mobile and the millennial lives on the mobile. It is the "two-by-four real estate" that he lives on. The exceptional speed at which we deliver along with the fact that we are a completely digital platform is what makes us a brand catering to millennials in the most innovative ways." CEO Ketan Patel
CASHe operates keeping in mind the comfort of the client. Availing loans from the platform is a swift and smooth process that can take place at the convenience of the client's time and place.
Unlike the conventional process, the user does not have to visit the branches to get the loan approved but he can get cash transferred to his account in a few minutes after applying on CASHe.
Ketan explained the basic difference between the SLQ score of the patent technology and the traditional bureau score followed by banks, stating "It is a classic differentiation like there is between diagnosis and prognosis. The CIBIL Score has a Halo effect as it looks at your history and based on that decides whether to give you a loan or not.
What CASHe SQL Score works with is your current situation and what is your predicted social behaviour. It will ensure whether you will get the loan basis if you can return the money or not." He further added, "Like a bureau score, the SLQ score improves or deteriorates depending on how you perform."
"The business model is very prevalent in western markets but nobody attempted that in the Indian market and whereas we initiated the idea and succeeded.
When we got the idea on excel, considering the "large population" out of which so many not having a credit card, it seemed like a walk in the park.
But as we started, we realized that there were challenges at every step in our journey. The success today is the result of overcoming all the challenges including KYC, risk parameters and seamless customer experience." CEO Ketan
Like every other start-up, CASHe also faced the initial challenge of "Acceptance" from its target audience and also in the market amongst the existing banks and NBFCs.
"At the end of the day, any good NBFC should a combination of equity and debt. We were not getting debt because nobody expected this model to survive and succeed.
We are one of the few who have succeeded in this business. While initially, the company had no lenders, today we have 17 lenders who lend money to us" Mr. Ketan Patel on the journey and the ultimate breakthrough the company got.
"We have a very strong AI team along with strong leadership from the founder, V. Raman Kumar. Prior to CASHe, Raman has created a company in 1998, turned his start-up into a billion-dollar company, listed it on NASDAQ and has sold it. Raman's technical expertise and my banking and lending experience resulted in this business model's success."
The team at CASHe shares a healthy percentage of female and male employees in the key executive positions in various departments in the company. With its open-door feedback policy, the brand offers the best working environment to its employees deriving significant results.
CASHe is one of the few Indian Fintech organizations that are certified by global authority "Best Place to Work".
Parameters CASHe's Score Findings Trust Index© CASHe 86 Percentage of employees that shared a positive response about the company they work for Credibility of Management 89 Percentage of employees see the management as credible OR the management is honest and ethical in its business practices.
Respect for People 84 Percentage of employees feel they are respected by the management by assessing the levels of support, collaboration, and positive actions toward them.
Fairness at the Workplace 83 Percentage of employees feel that management practices are fair by assessing the equity, impartiality, and justice employees perceive in the workplace Pride 89 Percentage of employees feel pride in their work by assessing the feelings employees have toward their jobs, team or work group, and the company Camaraderie Between People 86 Percentage of employees feel there is great sense of enjoyment in the workplace OR the degree to which people feel that they are members of a team or a family.
"The substantial increase in Smartphone usage led even the banks to start catering to the clients online and encouraging them to perform banking transactions through their applications rather than going to the offline branches.
We believe that the Indian millennials were ready for the product like this, it was just waiting for somebody like us to start this revolutionizing initiative and they were happy to welcome us with CASHe power." the visionary shared his views on the positive reaction they received from the audience.
"The company has received investments to the tune of over $ 20 million through debt and equity and we are actively looking to raise and equity of around $ 15 million in this financial year." Ketan shares his views on the current investment scenario in CASHe.
CASHe addressed that the millennial segment in the market that does not get the credit cards.
The brand partnered with MSwipe to create its very Own MCard, a card that not only enables millennials to spend the money but also supported the merchants by saving the MDR charges that they spend with Visa/Mastercard and Amex.
The QR based card allows the salaried Millennials to spend and merchants to accept payments by MCard as they save 2% on every payment. The brand holds the potential to create 40000 such cards at any point in time.
"The idea is can we convert CASHe into a "Digital Bank "in the upcoming five to seven years serving end-to-end to the salaried millennials." Ketan shares his views on the future opportunities the brand is about to unwrap.
"As far as mergers are concerned, the brand is always looking forward to anything that can add value to the existing business model. In the next 6-7 months, the industry will witness many such mergers and acquisitions in the company or other fin-tech companies." CEO Ketan on being asked about the upcoming mergers that the industry can experience.
For every industry entrant, the visionary Ketan Patel shared his advice "Don't forget that you are in the lending business and tech has to be an "enabler", it cannot be the sole decision-maker."
As far as challenges are concerned Mr. Ketan Patel believes "The market is huge and not catered by any bank or NBFC. The segment that we are catering to is so large that it is not a "winner-takes-all" situation. Even if 6-7 players like me enter the market, I think there will be enough business to do for all."
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